Game device comprising a game piece rack with shelves and a game piece container with an opening covered by a slit diaphragm



J. kUHLMAN Jai i. 7, 1964 3,116,927 INC A GAME PIECE RACK WITH SHE LVES GAME DEVICE COMPRIS AND A GAME PIECE CONTAINER WITH AN OPENING COVERED BY A SLIT DIAPHRAGM Filed March 30, 1959 lNl/ENTOR: m

MW WM ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent Oil-ice Bilbfiil? latented Jan. 7, 1964 3 116,927 GAME DE'VKIE COl viPRESiING A GAME HECE RACK WITH SHEIJVES AND A GAME PIECE CGNTAINER WITH AN GPENING COVERED BY A SLIT DIAPEmGR I Joseph Kuhlman, 1511 W. Greenleaf, tlhicago, Ill. Filed Mar. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 802,717 2 Claims. (Cl. 273135) This invention relates generally to improvements in game apparatus, and more particularly to new and improved game apparatus providing both education and amusement for its players.

In accordance with the features of a specific illustrative embodiment of this invention, the new and improved game a paratus comprises a novel multi-shelf rack for each player, a plurality of elongated rectangular t les, each bearing word data on each of its elongated sides and numeral data on its ends, and a unique storage and dispensing container for said tiles having resilient locking means for keeping the tiles Within the container during periods of non-use while at the same time permitting easy access to the tiles during periods of play. As a further feature of the invention, the tile storage and dispensing container advantageously is provided with a unique interior construction that serves to group the tiles in a central area within the container to further facilitate the selection and removal of the tiles from the container during play.

It is a general object of this invention to provide new and improved game apparatus for educational and entertaining use by two or more players.

It is another object of this invention to provide new and improved game apparatus comprising a plurality of word and number bearing tiles adapted to be positioned in score determining sentences upon a multi-shelf playing rack having defined scoring areas whereby the total score achieved by a player is dependent upon the chance selection of the word tiles and the players skill in constructing sentences therefrom.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a novel storage and dispensing container for the tiles having a resilient entry portion that serves both to lock the tiles in the container during non-use and to permit easy access to the tiles during periods of play.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel storage and dispensing container for the tiles, as described above, which further includes interior inclined wall portions for grouping the stored tiles in a central area adjacent the split resilient portion to facilitate selection and removal of the stored tiles during play.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide new and improved game apparatus, as described above, which is characterized by its suitability to the requirements of economy of manufacture and convenience of use.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds. The features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification, The invention may be fully understood from the following description in connection with a preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative multi-shelf tile receiving rack embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective View of the Word and numeral data bearing elongated tiles in accordance with the invention;

IGURE 3 is a perspective view of a preferred embodirnent of the tile storage and dispensing container constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view, taken substantially as shown on line 44 of FIGURE 3, of the storage and dispensing container showing in particular the tile grouping inclined walls at the interior thereof; and

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view, taken substantially as shown on line 55 of FIGURE 3, illustrating the resilient entry means which serve to retain the tiles within the container during non-playing periods and to provide easy access to the tiles during play periods.

Referring now to the drawing, and more particularly to FIGURE 1, there is shown a specific illustrative embodiment of tile receiving rack 16 which advantageously may be utilized in the game apparatus of the present invention.

Rack 10 comprises a plurality of tile receiving shelves 2, Id, 16, 18 and 20 arranged in the form of steps going upwardly from the lowermost shelf 12 to the uppermost shelf 2%. Each of the tile receiving shelves is divided into a plurality of tile receiving areas, said areas being defined by the lines 22 as being substantially equal in length to the length of the tiles so that each area is adapted to receive one tile.

An illustrative embodiment of the indicia bearing tiles which may be used with advantage in the present invention is shown in FIGURE 2 of the drawing. It can there be seen that, in one preferably form, each of the tiles 24- comprises an elongated rectangular body having four elongated side portions 26 and two end portions 28. In accordance with a specific embodiment of the invention, each of the sides 26 of the tiles 24 bears a single word indicia, the four Words on each tile preferably being different from each other. The ends 28 of each tile 24 bear suitable numeral indicia which advantageously may be used in computing scoring values during play of the game apparatus in the manner described in greater detail below.

In a preferred form of play with the rack 19 and the tiles 24, each player in the game is provided with a tile receiving rack it Initially, each player takes from a suitable word concealing container, six of the tiles 24, and in accordance with the skill of the player, as many of the six tiles as possible are used to form one or more sentences each comprised of two or more of the selected tiles. Normally, a player will be unable to form a sentence using all of the six initially selected tiles, and after the first sentence is formed from certain ones of the tiles which are placed on the shelf 18 of rack 10, the remaining tiles which have not been used in this first sentence are placed on the top or steal-a-word shelf 2%.

The starting player in the game may be the player whose initially picked six tiles contain numeral indicia having the highest total point value. At the beginning of play, this starting player has the opportunity of inspecting the exposed tiles on the top shelf Zil of the other racks, and the starting player may either steal a word tile from the exposed shelf 29 of any other rack, or if he chooses, he may pick a new tile from the unselected group of tiles in the container. If the starting player takes a tile from an opponents rack, then a word from this tile must be used in a sentence formed by the starting player on his rack. Should the starting player pick a tile from the unselected group of tiles in the container, he attempts to use one of the four words thereon in combination with his other tiles to form a new sentence or reform an old sentence on his rack. To this end, any sentences which have been formed on the rack may be changed at will during the players turn in order that a new and longer sentence can be formed. In the alternative, 21 new sentence utilizing the tiles may be formed on another shelf of the rack. After the starting player has played in the manner described above, the next player in turn has the 3 opportunity of either taking a tile from an opponents steal-a-word shelf 29 or of taking a new tile from the unselected group of tiles in the container in order to form a new sentence or to reform an old sentence.

The players continue to take turns in the manner described above, and the first player who completes four sentences, one on each of the shelves 12, 14-, 16, and 18, of at least six words each may declare himself out. The first player out receives a 75 point bonus for being the first to complete four sentences with a minimum of six words each, and to this 75 point bonus is added the numeral indicia values at the ends of each of the tiles in his four sentences.

In accordance with a feature of this invention, a group of the tile receiving areas on each shelf is colored to denote extra point value areas. As shown in the FIGURE 1 example, all of the tile receiving areas after the sixth tile receiving area may be colored. For example, the seventh tile receiving area may be colored purple; the eighth, yellow; the ninth, blue; the tenth, white; and the eleventh, orange. These areas are extra point value areas wherein the player is given additional scoring points as a result of his having formed sentences comprising more than six words. A scoring numeral is positioned on the top shelf of the rack in vertical alignment with each of the colored areas on the shelves to denote the extra point value of each of these areas. Thus, in the specific illustrative embodiment shown in FIGURE 1, a tile on the purple or yellow area has its nominal point value multiplied by 2-, a tile on the blue area has its nominal point Value multiplied by 3, a tile on the white area has its nominal point value multiplied by 4, and a tile on the orange area has its nominal point value multiplied by 5. Thus, the longer the sentence formed on a shelf, the greater the number of extra scoring points.

At any time during play, and at the time a player declares himself out, any player may challenge any other player to determine whether the tiles on a shelf form a valid sentence. 'If the sentence of a challenged player is not a valid one, as determined by a vote of the players, then the player having the invalid sentence must surrender any two tiles that the challenger may elect to take from any position on the challenged players rack. If, on the other hand, the challenger is wrong in his challenge, then the challenger must give the challenged player one tile at his discretion without exposing his rack.

If desired, one or more blank tiles, i.e., tiles bearing no word indicia on its sides, may be included with the word-bearing tiles in the container. Whenever, during the game, a player at his turn selects a blank tile, this fact should be announced to the other players, and the player who selected the blank tile then has the opportunity of taking a word tile from the rack of any other player in the game. For example, if the drawer of a blank tile tells an opponent to surrender a third word tile in the latters first sentence, then such a tile, if it exists, must be surrendered and the latter player then must re-arrange the tiles in his first sentence to form a new valid sentence, or if he is unable to do this, he must place the un-used tiles on the top exposed shelf 20* of his rack. In addition, each blank tile may be considered as wild to represent any word desired by the player when used in a sentence.

Each of the racks 10 is provided with a pair of forwardly extending side walls which aids in preventing the unauthorized viewing of the word forming tiles on the rack shelves 12, 14, 16 and 18. Thus, it can be seen that during play, any tiles on the sentence forming shelves are hidden from view except from the front of the rack, while the tiles on the top or steal-a-word shelf 20 of the rack are exposed to view of all the players to enable any of the other players to select and take such tiles during his turn for use in forming a sentence.

In accordance with a specific feature of the invention,

the tiles to be selected for play are kept in a unique 4- storage and dispensing container 32 shown in FIGURES 3, 4, and 5 of the drawing. The container 32 comprises a plurality of side walls 34, an upper wall 36, and a bottom wall 38 to define an enclosure 46 for storing the tiles to be drawn during play.

In one of the most advantageous features of the invention, the top wall 36 advantageously is provided with an opening 42 and a slitted diaphragm 44 stretched across the opening 42. Preferably, the slitted diaphragm 44 is formed of a pair of resilient members 46 and 48 tightly stretched across the opening 42 and having a slit therebetween which normally is closed to store the tiles within the container 32. During periods of non-play, the tiles within the container cannot fall out by virtue of the locking operation of the slitted diaphragm 44. During periods of play, the normally closed slitted diaphragm 44 serves to prevent unauthorized viewing of the tiles within the container so that the selection of the tiles by the players is completely blind.

It will now be seen that while the slitted diaphragm 44 serves to lock the tiles within the container during non-play periods, this same slitted diaphragm permits easy removal of the tiles during periods of play. Thus, as shown in FIGURE 5 of the drawing, the resilient portions 46 and 48 of the slitted diaphragm 44 may easily be pushed downwardly by the hand of the player to facilitate selection of the tiles. Advantageously, resilient portions 46 and 48 of the slit-ted diaphragm 44 may be formed of sheet rubber or plastic material which is sufficiently rigid to hold the tiles within the container, while being sufficiently flexible to permit the tiles to be easily removed by a player during play.

Manifestly, the resilient portions 46 and 48 in slitted diaphragm '44 may be attached to the top Wall 36 of container 32 in any suitable manner. One means of positioning the slitted diaphragm 44 adjacent the opening 42 is shown in FIGURE 4 of the drawing wherein the diaphragm 44 is secured by suitable adhesive to the under side of top wall 36 and a suitable retaining means 50 is positioned against the diaphragm 44 to maintain it in proper place.

In accordance with a still further feature of this in vention, the container 32 is provided with a pair of opposed inclined walls 52 and 54 within the enclosure 40 of the container. These inclined walls serve to group the tiles 2.4 at an area within the container adjacent the opening 42 and the slitted diaphragm 44. It now can be seen that the provision of the inclined walls 52 and 54 to group the tiles in a selected area within the container serves to further facilitate the selection and removal of the tiles from the container in the manner shown in FIG- URE 5 of the drawing.

I have shown and described unique game apparatus wherein a multi-shelf tile receiving rack, a plurality of word and numeral indicia bearing tiles, and a unique storage and dispensing container are used in a highly entertaining and educational sentence forming game. The instructive and amusement values of the game are greatly enhanced by the novel structures comprising the game apparatus as disclosed in this application.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the specific illustrative embodiments of game apparatus shown in the drawing and described in the specification are merely illustrative of the principles of the invention, and that modifications and changes may be made in the above-described structures without departing from the real spirit and purpose of the invention.

Accordingly, it is intended to cover by the appended claims any modified forms or structure which may be reasonably included within their scope.

What is claimed as the invention is:

1. In game apparatus, the improvement of a plurality of elongated, indicia bearing rectangular tiles, each of the elongated sides of said tiles bearing word indicia and each of the ends of said tiies bearing numeral indicia,

a multi-shelf rack for receiving said tiles in sentence forming combinations, said rack comprising a plurality of shelves arranged in the form of steps, all of said shelves except the top shelf being divided into tile receiving areas of length substantially equal to the length of said tiles with a portion of said areas being of different colors to signify difierent scoring values for the tiles positioned on the colored areas, the top shelf of said rack having scoring indicia aligned with and corresponding to said colored areas on the remaining shelves, the tiles on said top shelf being exposed to view from the front and rear of said rack and the tiles on said remaining shelves being exposed to view only from the front of said rack, and a storage and dispensing container for said tiles comprising a plurality of walls defining an enclosure, one of said walls having an opening formed therein, a slitted diaphragm of resilient material stretched across said opening, said diaphragm being normally closed to store the tiles within the container and to prevent the unauthorized viewing thereof, and being adapted to be opened manually to permit the tiles to be selected and removed from said container, and a plurality of inclined walls positioned in the interior of said container for grouping the tiles in an area adjacent said opening to facilitate the selection thereof during play periods of the game apparatus.

2. In game apparatus, the improvement of a plurality of elongated, indicia bearing rectangular tiles, each of the elongated sides of said tiles bearing word indicia and each of the ends of said tiles bearing numeral indicia, a multi-shelf rack for receiving said tiles in sentence forming combinations, said rack comprising a plur ality of shelves arranged in the form of steps, the tiles on the top one of said shelves being exposed to view from the front and rear of said rack and the tiles on said remaining shelves being exposed to view only from the front of said rack, and a storage and dispensing container for said tiles comprising a plurality of Walls dc, fining an enclosure, one of said walls having an opening formed therein, a slitted diaphragm of resilient material stretched across said opening, said diaphragm being normally closed to store the tiles within the container and to prevent the unauthorized viewing thereof, and being adapted to be opened manually to permit the tiles to be selected and removed from said container and a plurality of inclined walls positioned in the interior of said container for grouping the tiles in an area adjacent said opening to facilitate the selection thereof during play periods of the game apparatus.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,511,731 Kimmel Oct. 14, 1924 1,512,147 Tegtrneycr et a1 Oct. 21, 1924 1,571,374 Richard et a1 Feb. 2, 1926 1,629,661 Gerhard May 24, 1927 1,983,139 Lovell Dec. 4, 1934 2,803,370 Lennard Aug. 20, 1957 2,857,070 Elias Oct. 2 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 957,746 France Aug. 29, 1949 

2. IN GAME APPARATUS, THE IMPROVEMENT OF A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED, INDICIA BEARING RECTANGULAR TILES, EACH OF THE ELONGATED SIDES OF SAID TILES BEARING WORD INDICIA AND EACH OF THE ENDS OF SAID TILES BEARING NUMERAL INDICIA, A MULTI-SHELF RACK FOR RECEIVING SAID TILES IN SENTENCE FORMING COMBINATIONS, SAID RACK COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SHELVES ARRANGED IN THE FORM OF STEPS, THE TILES ON THE TOP ONE OF SAID SHELVES BEING EXPOSED TO VIEW FROM THE FRONT AND REAR OF SAID RACK AND THE TILES ON SAID REMAINING SHELVES BEING EXPOSED TO VIEW ONLY FROM THE FRONT OF SAID RACK, AND A STORAGE AND DISPENSING CONTAINER FOR SAID TILES COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF WALLS DEFINING AN ENCLOSURE, ONE OF SAID WALLS HAVING AN OPENING FORMED THEREIN, A SLITTED DIAPHRAGM OF RESILIENT MATERIAL STRETCHED ACROSS SAID OPENING, SAID DIAPHRAGM BEING NORMALLY CLOSED TO STORE THE TILES WITHIN THE CONTAINER AND TO PREVENT THE UNAUTHORIZED VIEWING THEREOF, AND BEING ADAPTED TO BE OPENED MANUALLY TO PERMIT THE TILES TO BE SELECTED AND REMOVED FROM SAID CONTAINER AND A PLURALITY OF INCLINED WALLS POSITIONED IN THE INTERIOR OF SAID CONTAINER FOR GROUPING THE TILES IN AN AREA ADJACENT SAID OPENING TO FACILITATE THE SELECTION THEREOF DURING PLAY PERIODS OF THE GAME APPARATUS. 